I'll ask a question. Has anyone ever fitted their bug with some kind of wiper delay doohicky? With a flat windshield it catches all the mist and light rain that the laminar flow diverts in most cars but even the slow wiper speed is too fast sometimes. Rather than wear out my wiper switch I'd like to install a circuit that can add a delay at the end of the wiper blade travel. Maybe there is some kit for this available?
Since it's slow...
Nov 04, 2004
10 Replies
Kits are readily available at many auto parts stores. Or were some years ago.
Jan
Yeah they are but I was hoping someone had some advice in hooking one up.
JCwhitney.com sells a delay kit. There is a small problem-- it operates at 12V but only drives 6V wiper motors. Seems like a clever person could modify it with a relay or some transistors to drive a 12V motor. I might get one and tinker with it.
10 or 15 years ago I bought a kit at some auto store but it never quite worked right. What you need is the delay to occur when the wipers are in their "parked" position and I never could get that to happen gracefully. Then I looked at a few circuit books but I never could find quite the right one to try.
I installed one of these
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in my dad's VW Camper many years ago. It worked fine until he was in Montana driving back from east coast in a pouring rain and it shorted. He had to pull over and re-wire around it. However, when it WAS working, it worked great. Lasted about 3 years, if I recall. Larry
a PO of my current beetle did something like this, never quite figured out exactly what the parts he installed came from, but it looked like a manual speed controller off an RC car, had a knob that closed different contacts depending on position, presumably altering the power that the wiper motor would recieve.
They drilled a hole in the dash and poked the knob through so it could be adjusted from the interior.
Problem is, it never actually accomplished anything. On the "low" setting, the wipers don't move. On every other setting, they function at full speed.
My advice in hooking something up, don't do what the PO did. ;)
Hmmmm, thanks. That looks about like what I tried before.
i installed one of those in my 74 std beetle...it was only slightly different with the "mist" feature....definitely *not* stock appearing, but it worked for close to ten years and i still have it in my basement(took it out when ijunked the car)....
------------------- Chris Perdue "I'm ever so thankful for the Internet; it has allowed me to keep a finger in the pie and to make some small contribution to those younger who will carry the air-cooled legend forward" Jim Mais Feb. 2004
I installed one of these on my '63 beetle:
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Yep, neither was mine. :-)
I took mine out when I sold the car and put it in my truck then took it out of my truck when I sold it and put it in the Jeep and then took it out of the Jeep and.... still have it in my garage. If it'd fit under the hood of my Civic then you get one guess where it would be right now. ;-)
Do you think if I played that same tune as the General Lee that it would help my wipers in misty weather?
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